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Why companies like Amazon manually review voice data http://bit.ly/2Um60mO Last week, Bloomberg revealed unsavory details about Alexa’s ongoing development that were known within some circles but hadn’t previously been reported widely: Amazon employs thousands of contract workers in Boston, Costa Rica, India, Romania, and other countries to annotate thousands of hours of audio each day from devices powered by its assistant. “We take the security and privacy of our customers’ personal information seriously,” an Amazon spokesman told the publication, adding that customers can opt not to supply their voice recordings for feature development. Bloomberg notes that Amazon doesn’t make explicitly clear in its marketing and privacy policy materials that it reserves some audio recordings for manual review. But what about other companies? Manual review: a necessary evil?Today, most speech recognition systems are aided by deep neural networks — layers of neuron-like mathematical functions that self-improve over time — that predict phonemes, or perceptually distinct units of sound. Unlike automatic speech recognition (ASR) techniques of old, which relied on hand-tuned statistical models, deep neural nets translate sound in the form of segmented spectrograms, or representations of the spectrum of frequencies of sound, into characters. Joe Dumoulin, chief technology innovation officer at Next IT, told Ars Technica in an interview that it takes 30-90 days to build a query-understanding module for a single language, depending on how many intents it needs to cover. That’s because during a typical chat with an assistant, users often invoke multiple voice apps in successive questions, and these apps repurpose variables like “town” and “city.” If someone asks for directions and follows up with a question about a restaurant’s location, a well-trained assistant needs to be able to suss out which thread to reference in its answer. Moreover, most speech recognition systems tap a database of phones — distinct speech sounds — strung together to verbalize words. Concatenation, as it’s called, requires capturing the complementary diphones (units of speech comprising two connected halves of phones) and triphones (phones with half of a preceding phone at the beginning and a succeeding phone at the end) in lengthy recording sessions. The number of speech units can easily exceed a thousand; in a recent experiment, researchers at Alexa developed an acoustic model using 7,000 hours of manually annotated data. The open source LibriSpeech corpus contains over 1,000 hours of spoken English derived from audiobook recordings, while Mozilla’s Common Voice data set comprises over 1,400 hours of speech from 42,000 volunteer contributors across 18 languages. “As much as we want to believe that there have been breakthrough advances in Artificial Intelligence many of the most advanced implementations of this technology, like Alexa, require a human in the loop,” University of Washington assistant professor Nicholas Weber told VentureBeat in an email. “Of course, human intervention is necessary for verification and validation of the AI’s reasoning. Many of us implicitly know this, but there are large numbers of the population that don’t know AI’s limitations.” Viewed through the lens of privacy, though, the difference between that data and the voice samples Amazon’s contract workers handle is quite stark, according to Mayank Varia, a research associate professor at Boston University. In an email exchange with VentureBeat, he said that it stretches the definition of “anonymized.” “When [an] Amazon spokesperson says ’employees do not have direct access to information that can identify the person,’ what they likely mean is that when Amazon provides the worker with a copy of your audio recording, they do not also provide your Amazon username or any other identifier along with the sound clip,” he said via email. “But in some sense this is inconsequential: The sound clip probably reveals more about you than your Amazon username would. In particular, you could be having a conversation in which you say your name. “I highly doubt Amazon would bother to scrub that from the audio before handing it to their workers,” Varia added. Privacy-preserving ways to collect speech dataSome companies handle voice collection more delicately than others, clearly. But is it necessary to begin with? Might there be a better, less invasive means of improving automatic voice recognition models? Varia believes so. “It is possible (and increasingly somewhat feasible) to transform any existing automated system into a privacy-preserving and automated system, using technologies like secure multiparty computation (MPC) or homomorphic encryption,” he said. There’s been some progress on that front. In March, Google debuted TensorFlow Privacy, an open source library for its TensorFlow machine learning framework that’s designed to make it easier for developers to train AI models with strong privacy guarantees. Specifically, it optimizes models by using a modified stochastic gradient descent technique — the iterative method for optimizing the objective functions in AI systems — that averages together multiple updates induced by training data examples and clips each of these updates, then adds anonymizing noise to the final average. TensorFlow Privacy can prevent the memorization of rare details, Google says, and guarantee that two machine learning models are indistinguishable whether or not a user’s data was used in their training. In a somewhat related development, late last year Intel open-sourced HE-Transformer, a “privacy-preserving” tool that allows AI systems to operate on sensitive data. It’s a backend for nGraph, Intel’s neural network compiler, and it’s based on Microsoft Research’s Simple Encrypted Arithmetic Library (SEAL). But Varia says that these and other crypto technologies aren’t a magic bullet. “[T]hey cannot transform a manual process into a computerized one,” he said. “If Amazon believes that computers have already failed to classify these particular audio samples, then privacy-preserving computers won’t fare any better.” Weber says that regardless, companies should be more transparent about their data collection and review processes, and that they should offer explanations for the limitations of their AI systems. Consumers agree, it would seem — based on a survey of 4,500 people Episerver conducted late last year, 43% said they’d refrain from using voice-assisted devices like Alexa due to security concerns, and OpenVPN reports that 35% don’t use an intelligent assistant because they feel it invades their privacy. “We should understand when a human intervention is required, and on what grounds that decision is justified. We should not have to depend on a close reading of a terms of service document,” Weber said. “[F]inally, technology companies should be proactive about AI that depends upon human-in-the-loop decision making — even if that decision making is about quality assurance. They should offer […] justifications rather than creating black box technologies and waiting for investigative journalists to uncover their [AI’s] inner workings.” It’s clear that manual annotation is here to stay — at least for now. It’s how data scientists at conglomerates like Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple improve the performance of voice assistants such as Alexa, Cortana, and Siri, and how they develop new features for those assistants and expand their language support. But even after privacy-preserving techniques like homographic encryption become the norm, transparency will remain the best policy. Without it, there can’t be trust, and without trust, the smart speaker sitting on your kitchen counter becomes a little creepier than it was before. Business via VentureBeat https://venturebeat.com April 15, 2019 at 07:33PM
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This $349 dash cam is pricey, but its 24-hour HD video coverage, theft-prevention alarm, and dual cameras make it worth the cost http://bit.ly/2DcZhWE Insider Picks writes about products and services to help you navigate when shopping online. Insider Inc. receives a commission from our affiliate partners when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.
If you own a car, you should do everything in your power to protect it. But even if you're the safest driver on the road, accidents are unfortunately not always avoidable — and they're expensive to fix. Beyond having car insurance (which every driver should have), the next best thing you can do to protect yourself and your ride is to install a dash camera. The premise of dash cameras is simple. You mount a camera on your dash to record 24/7 just in case an accident occurs. It's a smart way to cover yourself from reckless drivers or even those that made an honest mistake. But a not-so-smart device with grainy video, poor audio, and limited storage space for recording can easily turn out to be more of a headache than an added safety measure. That's where Owlcam comes into play.
Designed to work with all cars model year 1996 or newer with the exception of Teslas, the Owlcam is a smart dash camera that plugs into your car's OBDII port. What separates it from most other dash cameras is its two HD cameras (one road-facing and the other interior-facing), its LTE connectivity for video storage, and its integrated smartphone app. These features address issues of capturing footage that's hard to clearly make out and the constant need for clearing SD cards for storage space. Additionally, it provides a level of security and vehicle monitoring that most dash cameras lack altogether. Read more: This $70 scanner can diagnose your car's issues and save you money on repairs OwlcamHow to set it upThe first step to setting up the Camera is downloading the Owl Car Cam app on the App Store or Google Play. It's worth noting that you'll need an iPhone 6 or newer with iOS 11 or an Android with the Oreo or Pie operating system. The brand has tested models including Google Pixel 2/2XL, Samsung Galaxy S8/S9, and LG V30, but comparable newer models like the Google Pixel 3 and Samsung Galaxy S10 should work fine, too. Next, you'll need to locate your car's OBDII port, which can usually be found on the driver's side of the interior on the lower dash. I used my mom's 2007 Honda CR-V to test the camera out (my vintage cars are too old) and the port was located almost directly underneath the steering wheel. If your car's port is not immediately visible, check your car's owners manual or do a quick Google search. Once you've located yours, it's time to install the camera on your dash and run the wire to your OBDII port. In the box, you'll find the camera, the camera mount, the OBDII port adapter, power wire, and a tool used for tucking the wire in the crease of the dash and windshield. Owlcam says you can complete the entire installation process in six minutes, but I wanted to make sure my camera was precisely in the middle of the dash and that the wire was neatly hidden, so I spent a little bit more time than that. Once the camera is plugged in and your car is on, the on-screen directions will guide you through pairing it to the app. I really like that the installation doesn't require any hard-to-reverse modifications, so if you ever decide to take it out, you won't be left with sticky adhesive on your dashboard. How it works on the roadA driver's worst nightmare is getting into an accident, only to be wrongly accused of being at fault (well, maybe this is the second worst nightmare). While all dash cameras, in theory, serve the main purpose of capturing footage you need as proof for insurance companies or police, they can be inconvenient to use and are often unreliable. Having to constantly make sure they're actually on and recording with enough storage space to capture footage can easily render many dash cameras useless when they're needed the most. But with Owlcam, that's never an issue. As long as it's plugged in, both HDs cameras are recording, and since the device uses LTE service, it's automatically saved to the Owlcam app. In addition to road safety, the Owlcam can also be used for fun on the road. If you see something cool on the road like a rare supercar or you and your passengers decide to have a car karaoke session, simply say "Ok Presto" to begin recording a clip from either camera that will be sent directly to you — there's no need to go into the app to retrieve it. How it works when you're parkedWhat really separates the Owlcam from most other dash cameras on the market are the many features it has when you're not in the car and on the road. While it doesn't continuously save video recordings as it would when your car is on (for the sake of not draining your car battery), the Owlcam is prompted to save the video if an impact or break-in is detected. If your car is parked and someone hits it, you'll be immediately notified of a possible impact, and it will send footage starting from before the impact to the app. If your car is parked and is left uninterrupted, that footage isn't actively saved. Additionally, the Owlcam does a really great job at deterring thieves. If the green flashing light isn't enough to make a would-be thief think twice and they do break into your vehicle, they'll be welcomed by two bright LED flood lights to let them know they're visible and on camera. Once you're notified of the break-in, you can use the live video stream and two-way audio function to see what they're doing and to yell at them until they flee. Although I haven't had to deal with car thieves or burglars, I can confirm that this function works well. Owlcam pairs to your smartphone via Bluetooth as a way to detect you entering. Since I installed the device in my mom's car, I'd get a notification to my phone when she entered her car, which would be much more alarming if I knew someone else wasn't supposed to be driving. I tried the two-way audio with her and it works without fault. The bottom lineIt's been several months since I first received the Owlcam review and it's been a great addition to the car. Aside from uninstalling it to test and review other products that require an OBDII plug-in, it's been used daily by my mom on her commutes to and from work. Thankfully, I've never been in an accident, but I felt a lot more secure with Owlcam installed when I drove the car. Priced at $349, Owlcam isn't the most affordable dash camera, but it's well worth it — especially if you're behind the wheel a lot like my mom. You'll have peace of mind knowing that your car is better protected at all times — whether you're on the road or not. And, if it can save you from being accused of an accident that wasn't your fault or from having your car burglarized or stolen altogether, the price tag is outweighed tenfold. Owlcam Smart Dash Camera, $349, available on AmazonSee Also:
Business via Business Insider http://bit.ly/1IpULic April 15, 2019 at 07:21PM
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'You're Doing Good Wrong' http://bit.ly/2ZcPA3Y For the past seven years, I’ve worked full time at writing books and articles, speaking and teaching about people who are doing good in the world. Almost everyone I meet inspires me with the good they do. Yet, there is a recurring theme in the social impact world that drives me bonkers: the message from some that “you’re doing good wrong.” Let’s agree from the start that there are charlatans in our ranks. For my show, I’ve now interviewed more than 1,100 people. I’ve come across a few people whose idea of doing good is thin but only one or two—much less than 1%--that I would, in hindsight, call charlatans. Of course, I try my best to screen them out before they get on my show. Still, my take is that most people running social enterprises, making impact investments, guiding nonprofits and making philanthropic gifts are both smart and well-intentioned. From small social enterprises to large nonprofits, I find that people have clear, written theories of change and that they are gathering data to measure both activities and outcomes. They hold themselves to account because their donors and investors expect or require them to. In other words, the economics of social good work. Still, too often, I hear criticisms of the way other people do good. Social entrepreneurs and impact investors, for instance, have often in my presence made the argument that for-profit economics are more scalable and sustainable than nonprofit economics. Let’s subject that hypothesis to just a bit of scrutiny. Is it more sustainable than the Catholic Church, founded nearly 2,000 years ago? According to the World Atlas, not one for-profit business has been around that long. If you don’t like using a religion as an example of a nonprofit, how about the United Way? It reports serving 61 million people in 40 countries in 2017, working to reduce poverty and improve public health. I'm not aware of any for-profit social enterprise doing good at that scale. The fact is, nonprofits are sustainable and, in general, have admirable track records. They are led by people who are as committed to impact as any social entrepreneur or impact investor. Another frequent target of criticism is Blake Mycoskie’s Tom’s Shoes, which famously launched with a mantra of Buy One Give One. Early on, the company recognized that giving away shoes it competed unfairly with local producers of shoes and adapted its approach to source the shoes it gives away in the local market where possible. In a more significant shift, in 2018, the company refocused most of its giving on the fight to end gun violence. Where does the money go? To a variety of nonprofits. Bill Gates, often lauded for his social impact, is also a frequent target of criticism. Perhaps, for the most famous philanthropist in the world, it is to be expected. One criticism that has been leveled is that by virtue of the scale of his philanthropy, he needn’t and doesn’t seek engagement from the local communities he hopes to serve. Tell that to Rotary International. (Full disclosure: I’m a member of Rotary and am occasionally paid to speak at Rotary events.) Under Gates’ personal direction and ongoing involvement, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation partnered with the global service organization and its 1.2 million members in clubs in virtually every country on the planet to support the fight to eradicate polio. Those Rotarians scattered around the world live in the countries where polio is still endemic or has only recently been eradicated by ongoing vaccination programs. Rotary provides the Gates Foundation with a two-way communication path to ensure that the work funded by the Gates Foundation and supported by Rotary volunteers is executed in a way that engages local communities, including local political and religious leaders. The primary implementation partners are UNICEF and the World Health Organization. The fight to eradicate polio is as grassroots as it is global, and it is exactly that strategic combination that has allowed the team to reduce polio cases by 99.99% since the mid-1980s. It is important to note that critics play an important part in the evolution of social impact efforts. Without critics, would TOM’s have evolved its giving so substantially? Perhaps not. Still, it is notoriously easy to be a critic. It is much more difficult to do good well. All the impact players I know have a common goal: do good better. In the end, the statues will be built to honor the people who did the most good--not the critics. Business via Forbes - Entrepreneurs http://bit.ly/dTEDZf April 15, 2019 at 07:10PM
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17 gift cards that make great graduation gifts http://bit.ly/2InLtwP Insider Picks writes about products and services to help you navigate when shopping online. Insider Inc. receives a commission from our affiliate partners when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective. Gift cards can get a bad rap — they can feel impersonal, last-minute, and a little lackluster when placed next to a big box dressed in colorful wrapping paper. Yet, gift cards are really the only gift that ensures the giftee will get exactly what they want. Most recent grads are occupied with the financial and day-to-day transition from college to the real world, so gift cards are actually pretty ideal. They're not only a safe bet, but also offer real value in areas that recent grads will benefit from. We rounded up 17 gift cards that any recent grad will find really useful. Whether it'll lessens the financial burden of their move to the real world, help them keep up with their favorite hobbies, or pick up a new one, we thought of options for every kind of grad. You can find our list below, or head to Amazon and check out their list of gift cards. If you're looking to get a gift card for a recent grad, you can find 17 great options below. BrooklinenBrooklinenGet a Brooklinen gift cardIt's probably about time they upgrade that dorm room bedding. Help them out with a gift card to Brooklinen, one of the internet's favorite bedding startups, where they can find high-end sheets in timeless, minimalist styles. Find our full review of Brooklinen here. StarbucksStarbucksGet a Starbucks gift card at AmazonMillennials get a lot of flack for their expensive coffee habits, so helping them get their caffeine fix will be much appreciated.
EverlaneEverlane/InstagramBuy an Everlane gift cardEverlane's minimalist basics are the perfect addition to any wardrobe — including your recent grad's. A gift card will help them stock up on some of the brand's cult-favorite pieces like their durable denim, super-soft tees, and puffers made from recycled plastic bottles. Find some of our favorite Everlane styles, here.
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Business via Business Insider http://bit.ly/1IpULic April 15, 2019 at 06:21PM
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The person who won $1.19 million by betting $85,000 on Tigers Woods to win the Masters had never bet on sports on before http://bit.ly/2GojZom AP Photo/David J. Phillip
When Tiger Woods won the Masters on Sunday he made a lot of people happy, with friends, family, and fans all joining together to celebrate Woods' ascension back to the top of his sport. But it's likely that nobody was happier with Woods' win than James Adducci from Wisconsin, who placed an $85,000 bet on Woods to win the Masters. Read more: Gambler wins $1.19 million after placing $85,000 bet on Tiger Woods to win the Masters Adducci placed his bet with William Hill US sportsbook at 14-1 odds, and when Woods went on to win, his ticket cashed for an impressive $1.19 million payday. "If I saw Tiger, I would tell him that I understood the pressure he must be under, because I, for a moment in time, felt it too," Adducci told Darren Rovell of The Action Network. On Monday, Adducci was in Las Vegas to cash his ticket at the William Hill sportsbook at SLS Casino. While speaking with reporters, he revealed some shocking news, saying that this was the first bet he'd ever made on sports.
Speaking with Golf Digest's Stephen Hennessey, Adducci, a self-employed day trader, said that he put together all the money he could afford to lose and made the decision to put it on Woods. "I just thought it was pre-destined for him to win," he told Hennessey. Adducci said he was turned away from two casinos before William Hill decided to accept his action. His faith in Woods came not only from his fine form but also the fact that Woods would be playing in front of his kids. "It wasn't about the stats for me," Adducci told Hennessey. "The fact that this was going to be his first major in front of his kids, I was convinced he would win." Adducci also praised his wife for her understanding during what must have been a trying few days. "She said to me, 'I can't stop you from doing this, because if he wins, I'll never forgive myself.' She's a keeper," he said. You can read Hennessey's entire story on Adducci here.
Nike released a moving new ad to celebrate Tiger Woods victory at the Masters NOW WATCH: The NCAA brings in $1 billion a year — here's why it refuses to pay its college athletes See Also:
Business via Business Insider http://bit.ly/1IpULic April 15, 2019 at 06:15PM
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Experts say that new CEO Thomas Kurian's Oracle-like playbook could cause a 'culture clash' at Google Cloud — and that could be a good thing (GOOGL, GOOG) http://bit.ly/2v7964c
New Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian was hired for his enterprise sales chops — something that the search giant's growing cloud division needs, say experts. But for a company like Google Cloud that has long been engineering focused, a "culture clash" could be brewing, says Forrester vice president and principal analyst Dave Bartoletti, even as Kurian pursues a playbook that borrows from Oracle, his previous employer. "I think Thomas Kurian is a good choice, and we'll see if there's a culture clash," Bartoletti told Business Insider. "He definitely brings a very strong experience selling to enterprise. It's a much different sales motion than Google is used to ... Google is making real headway into the enterprise market with its cloud services." Bartoletti says Google is learning that there's no "one-size-fits-all" for cloud. A technological edge is important, but to really gain traction with the largest customers, it needs a sales team that knows exactly how to solve its customers' problems. "In the enterprise market, it's not enough to build a better mousetrap," Bartoletti said. "I think Google has learned that. It's very different from the consumer market where you build something shiny and sexy or spend loads of money marketing it. Product management and especially technical account management matter so much more to the enterprise." Kurian's partnership strategy, which so far involves tie-ups with enterprise mainstays like SAP and VMware, also points to a "very practical Google," says Maribel Lopez, founder and principal analyst of Lopez Research. She says the transition to an enterprise culture may make some employees unhappy, but it's a transition "that has to happen." "The thing about engineering culture, and the thing about Google, is, I think, they were very much all about innovation," Lopez told Business Insider. "When you get to the scale of this size company and people are used to doing whatever project they want, people are going to have to work on boring projects...Kurian's job isn't to make friends, his job is to make sure they build the best enterprise cloud services." "If you don't do this right, your innovation almost doesn't matter"Not all hope is lost for Google. Bartoletti points to Amazon Web Services as an example. Like Google, Amazon is a developer-focused company known for catering to consumers. But as the first major player in what we now know as cloud computing, Amazon eventually learned how to sell to those large customers. "That's something AWS learned for the last few years," Bartoletti said. "They were a brand new vendor for the enterprise as well. Cloud was seen as very disruptive." One important shift, Bartoletti says, is that Kurian recognizes that Google Cloud only has a fraction of the salespeople its competitors do. Kurian told the Wall Street Journal that he estimated that Google Cloud's sales team was one-tenth to one-fifteenth the size of those at AWS and Microsoft Azure. He plans to get that up to about half the size in the not-so-distant future. "Just over the past two years, Google has realized there's something different about selling to large enterprises," Bartoletti said. "It's a lot more complex. There's a lot of history, and there's a lot of investment in both people and technology that enterprises are not willing to throw away." Lopez said that when she met with Kurian, he spoke about streamlining the sales and contracting process, which is important, as customers can spend six to eight weeks negotiating a contract with a cloud vendor, she says. For example, she says, Kurian told her that Google will give customers one sales contact for all of their cloud needs, rather than make them talk to different salespeople for different products. This is the kind of basic thing that Google has so far lacked, but that it needs to embrace to build momentum in the enterprise. "When tech companies run so hard defining the next wave of innovation, sometimes you leave out the basics," Lopez said. "[Enterprises] want to buy something simply. They want to have the right partner and support structure...These are aren't sexy things, but if you don't do this right, your innovation almost doesn't matter." Kurian also told her that Google Cloud will streamline its partner program, whereby it works with outside specialists who do the dirty work of actually helping customers move to and start using their new cloud infrastructure. Google confirmed to Business Insider that changes to its partner program are underway, including new certification and specialization programs, and ways to identify top partners and bring them closer into the fold. The changing nature of cloudThe other big shift identified by analysts is Google's multi-cloud strategy, as exemplified by the launch last week of the Anthos cloud platform — which will enable users to manage not only their Google Cloud infrastructure, but also their own data centers, and the rival Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services clouds. Bloomberg previously reported that Kurian faced internal resistance from co-founder at CTO Larry Ellison when he tried to run a similar strategy at Oracle. "That shows how the nature of cloud is changing," Bartoletti said. "Cloud used to be a place to get cheaper servers and storage. It's not that anymore. Cloud is now shorthand for all the services I'm going to use to build the next generation of incredible applications...In order for Google to succeed, its core innovations have to be available on as many clouds as possible." Now, at Google Cloud, this strategy could be crucial, says Gartner senior director and analyst Sanjeev Mohan. "When you go to AWS and Azure, they try to block off other stuff," Mohan told Business Insider. "Google openly admits, because they are the last big player to come in, there are other cloud vendors and they have to live and happily coexist. That, to me, is very refreshing coming from them." Daniel Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities, also predicts that Google Cloud will "aggressively acquire" over the next six to nine months. "Just given the experience in Oracle, he's an M&A specialist and I think he understands technology and next gen cloud as well as anyone else there," Ives told Business Insider. "He's the right guy for the job but now it comes down to him strategically doing the right things. They need more feet on the street and more market among CIOs." 'An Everest climb'It's still too early to tell how Kurian will do leading Google Cloud, but the organization will need to make "incremental change over time," Bartoletti says. Greg Sandoval/Business Insider Analysts say Google Cloud has already made headway into this direction, starting under the reign of previous Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene. Analysts say that within the last year, Google Cloud has become more enterprise- and solution-oriented. "I think this is the first time Google was interested in reaching out to enterprises. They didn't have the mentality of speaking to enterprises," JB Su, vice president of Advanced Technologies and principal analyst at Atherton Research, told Business Insider. "I think Thomas is saying, 'I'm not going to change. You hired me to do enterprise.'" Even though Google Cloud's technology is in a class of itself, it still has work to do when it comes to strategy, analysts say. If it wants to beat the commanding lead of Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, Google will have to put the work in. "Right now, this is an Everest climb for Google to start to get to a [cloud] share somewhere in the high single digits and double digits," Ives said. Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at rmchan@businessinsider.com, Telegram at @rosaliechan, or Twitter DM at @rosaliechan17. PR pitches by email only, please. Other types of secure messaging available upon request. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop. See Also:
Business via Business Insider http://bit.ly/1IpULic April 15, 2019 at 05:51PM
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AN UNLIKELY REVOLUTIONARY: How Tristan Harris went from working at Apple and Google to consulting with heads of state about how to reform Silicon Valley (FB, GOOGL) http://bit.ly/2V5Yzoa Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty
Over the last six years, Tristan Harris has forced us to think differently about the devices and digital services we use every day. First as a product manager at Google and later as an outside critic of the tech industry, he's shone a light on what's been called the attention economy, the way our phones and apps and web services are constantly diverting and distracting us. It took years for his critique to spread. But boy has it. News that Russian-linked provocateurs had hijacked Facebook and other social media sites to spread propaganda during the 2016 election helped boost his profile. So too did reports that social media was leading to a significant uptick in depression among kids. Since then, Harris has found a ready audience ranging from everyday citizens to heads of state wanting to better understand how tech companies are manipulating or being used to manipulate their customers. Harris, who cofounded the Center for Humane Technology to develop and promote ideas for reforming the tech industry, has already made a mark on the industry. Features such as Apple's Screen Time, which iPhone owners can use to set limits on how much they use their devices and apps, are a direct result of the criticisms he's raised. And more may be on the way. For the first time, policymakers in the US and across the globe, many of whom have consulted with Harris and his colleagues, are seriously considering regulations to reset the relationship between the technology companies and their customers and the wider society. On Monday, for example, the UK's Information Commissioner's Office told the BBC it was considering severely restricting the amount of data social networks can collect on children by putting in place a range of measures, including limiting their use of like buttons. Business Insider spoke with Harris recently about what inspired him to start his movement and what he feels he's achieved so far. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Harris felt the industry was heading in the wrong directionTroy Wolverton: You've been trying to draw attention to and get the tech companies to address the abuses of what you call the attention economy since you put together your presentation in 2013. How do you think you've affected the industry or the debate? Tristan Harris: At the beginning, people didn't necessarily want to admit that there was a problem. I mean, the slide deck at Google went viral, and [it resonated with] people. But there was no action. It was just lots of denialism, lots of "oh, people are addicted to lots of things, cigarettes, alcohol. Isn't this just capitalism?" And it's like, guys, we're creating a very specific form of psychological manipulation and influence that we, the tech industry are responsible for fixing. And getting people to admit that took a really long time. We had a hard time getting people to sort of just agree that there was a problem that had to get fixed. And I think now what's changed is that people do know — because they've been forced to know — that there's a problem. So now people are talking about what do we actually do about it. What I've been hearing recently is that for the first time executives at Facebook, their friends are now kind of turning on them and saying, "Which side history do you want to be on?" And now I think because enough of the public has swayed the friends of people at the tops of these companies, that people now realize there's something structural we have to change. Wolverton: What prompted you to put together the slide deck in 2013? Harris: I felt like, fundamentally, there was just something wrong about the direction where this was headed, which is a really kind of a scary thought when you see an entire industry headed in not the right direction. Because up until then I thought technology was great. This is not an anti-technology movement. But what I was starting to really wake up to was ... what my most talented friends and engineers were increasingly doing was to be better and better at playing tricks on the human mind to keep people hooked on screens. I just felt that everyone that I knew was really not doing the kind of big, creative thinking that people had used do in the 90s and the early 2000s and it was becoming instead this race to manipulate the human mind. Wolverton: But was there some moment that triggered that awareness, some epiphany? Harris: I had a little bit of an epiphany. I went to the Santa Cruz mountains for a weekend with my friend Aza Raskin, who is now a cofounder of CHT. I came back from that weekend, after reconnecting with nature, and something profound kind of just hit me. I really don't know what came over me. I just felt like I had to say something. It felt wrong. It felt like no one else was going to say something. I'm not the kind of person that starts revolutions or speaks up. This is something that I've had to learn how to do. Heads of state have been knocking on his doorWolverton: How has your understanding of the scope of the problem changed since you put together your 2013 presentation? Harris: I had been CEO of a tiny Web 2.0 tech startup called Apture. I had a background, academically, in cognitive science, and computer science, and linguistics, user-interface design, human-computer interaction, things like that. I was trained to think about building technology products and the human mind. Since I left Google and especially after Cambridge Analytica and pairing up with [Silicon Valley venture capitalist] Roger [McNamee], and these issues took off, my breadth of understanding and the scope of what's stake expanded by multiple orders of magnitude. The scope of the issue has [been] raised from the way that a product designer would think about attention and notifications and home screens and the economics of app stores — which is how I started — to now playing 12-dimensional geopolitical chess and seeing how Iran, North Korea, Russia, China, use these platforms for global information warfare. [And it goes from there] all the way down to the way these issues affect the day-to-day social pressures and mental life of teenagers. We have world governments knocking on our door, because they want to understand these issues. Briefing heads of state — I never thought I'd be doing that. This has been wild, and it speaks to the scope and gravity of the issue. I knew that this issue would affect everything, conceptually, back in 2013. But I didn't ground that understanding as I have over the last year and a half, where you actually meet the people in the countries whose elections are at stake by these issues. Or you meet and speak with parent-children-teacher groups that wrestle with these issues daily. So, it literally affects everyone and everything. And it's the choke point for what is holding the pen of human history, which is what I think people underestimate. Wolverton: If you imagine this process as a curve going from identifying a problem to adequately addressing it, where do you think we are along it? Harris: Still the opening inning, I think. I think we're in the opening innings of a reckoning. [Companies such as Facebook and YouTube] are going to be looked back on as the fossil fuel companies, because in the attention economy, they drill deeper and deeper in the race to the bottom of the brain stem to get the attention out of people. [They're] now, wherever pressure exists on them, trying to correct for the largest of the harms that occur, but only because usually unpaid or nonprofit-paid civil society research groups stay up till 3 in the morning, scrape Facebook and YouTube and calculate the recommendation systems and the disinformation campaigns, and then they tell ... the New York Times ... and then Facebook or YouTube might, if there's enough pressure, after [a Rep.] Adam Schiff or a Senator [Mark] Warner or [Sen. Richard] Blumenthal letter from Congress start to do something about it. I think looking backwards we're going to say, 'Oh my god, we're so glad that we woke up from that nightmare and started designing, and funding, and structuring our technology in such a way that it's cooperatively owned by the users and the constituencies that it most affects. It's not on an infinite growth treadmill. It is designed with humane business models that are considerate of human sensitivities and vulnerabilities. Tech companies have taken only baby steps so farWolverton: You've said that companies like Facebook, Apple, and Google have taken what you call baby steps toward addressing these issues by doing things such as allowing people to set limits on the time they spend on their devices. How important are those? Harris: They're celebrated baby steps. I just want to be clear. I'm happy that they're doing it, because it sets off a race to the top. I mean, I had one of the executives of a major technology company you would know say, next to me on a stage at a private event, the whole industry is now in a race to the top for time well spent. I mean that's ridiculous. We were able to flip this around from a race to the bottom — from who can just steal attention by pulling on our paleolithic puppet strings — to now a race to the top. [Companies are now vying to] prove that they care more about ... the individual's well-being and hopefully in the future, a whole society and civilizational well being. But that's why the baby step matters. It actually co-occurred with all the companies starting to race in that direction, and we have to keep that race going. Wolverton: With all this focus on how devices and apps are demanding our attention, I was wondering how much time you're spending on your phone these days. Harris: Well, this is one of the most important issues for the world for all time, and I am, and our organization, are playing such a big role in it that unfortunately, I am constantly working on this problem, which means constantly using technology. I could look at my screen time app for you if you want, and I now know the answer to that question thanks to the features that now exist in a billion phones. Let me see. Screen time, last seven days, average is 3 hours and 2 minutes per day. NOW WATCH: What's going on with Jeff Bezos and Amazon See Also:
Business via Business Insider http://bit.ly/1IpULic April 15, 2019 at 05:45PM
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Salesforce is paying $300 million to acquire its own charitable foundation, and it could add as much as $200 million to its annual revenue (CRM) http://bit.ly/2KHajcP Mike Windle/Getty Images
Salesforce will pay $300 million to merge with its external philanthropic arm Salesforce.org in a deal that will grow the software giant's annual revenue by $150 million to $200 million, the company announced on Monday. Salesforce.org is an official Salesforce software reseller which distributes grants and puts the company's software into the hands of nonprofits and educational organizations at a discount or for free. With the new structure, the group's discounted sales revenue will roll into Salesforce's topline. Rob Acker, CEO of Salesforce.org, will continue to run the unit as an industry vertical focused on non-profits and education, akin to Salesforce's marketing cloud vertical and sales cloud vertical. As part of the deal, Salesforce.org which switch from being a California public benefit corporation to a California business corporation, according to the release. The $300 million merger fee will go to the Salesforce.com Foundation, an independent non-profit. Salesforce updated its guidance for fiscal year 2020 to reflect the merger. The company forecasts that its full year revenue will grow $150 million to $200 million because of the combination. The company said in early March that it expects to make $15.95 billion to $16.05 billion in revenue in 2020. It also expects to see adjusted earnings per share of $2.54 to $2.56 for Fiscal 2020, down from its March forecast of $2.74 to $2.76 per share. NOW WATCH: Here's how North Korea's Kim Jong Un became one of the world's scariest dictators See Also:
Business via Business Insider http://bit.ly/1IpULic April 15, 2019 at 05:45PM
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Bernie Sanders releases 10 years of tax returns after weeks of delays http://bit.ly/2V1Ilwv Associated Press
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday released 10 years of tax returns, making good on a pledge he made over a month ago. "These tax returns show that our family has been fortunate," Sanders said in a statement. "I am very grateful for that, as I grew up in a family that lived paycheck to paycheck and I know the stress of economic insecurity. That is why I strive every day to ensure every American has the basic necessities of life, including a livable wage, decent housing, health care and retirement security." He added, "I consider paying more in taxes as my income rose to be both an obligation and an investment in our country. I will continue to fight to make our tax system more progressive so that our country has the resources to guarantee the American Dream to all people." The Vermont senator had faced mounting pressure to release his returns after being criticized for not being more transparent on his finances during the 2016 campaign season. For weeks, Sanders repeatedly did not offer a specific timeline on when he would release his returns, but last week said they would finally be made public by Tax Day, or April 15. Meanwhile, after recently acknowledging that he's a millionaire due to profits from book sales, some conservatives, among others, have accused Sanders of hypocrisy in relation to his anti-capitalism rhetoric. The senator has for years decried "millionaires and billionaires," but now finds himself in their company. The senator dismissed criticism at a recent campaign stop, telling a crowd in Gary, Indiana, he didn't know "it was a crime to write a good book, which turned out to be a best-seller." Sanders said he would not apologize for writing a best-selling book, but maintained he still hopes to see a "progressive tax system which demands that the wealthiest people in this country finally start paying their fair share in taxes." In 2017, Sanders made over $1 million, largely due to book sales, according to Senate financial disclosures. The issue of tax returns has become a way for Democratic candidates to take jabs at President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly refused to release his. Trump has broken roughly four decades of precedent by declining to make his returns public, and he's currently embroiled in a fight with congressional Democrats who want to obtain them. A number of 2020 Democratic candidates have not yet released their returns, but have signaled they plan to do so. Sen. Kamala Harris released 15 years of returns on Sunday, the longest tax record made public by any 2020 Democrat. About 30 minutes before Sanders released his tax returns, he took the opportunity to go after Trump's tax policies, tweeting, "Let's remember that Trump's tax policies will raise taxes on millions of working people, while giving $4 billion in tax rebates to Fortune 500 companies and continuing to allow profitable companies like Amazon and Chevron to pay zero in federal income taxes." See Also:
SEE ALSO: 'There's a lot of poverty in the world': Bernie Sanders says he does not support open borders Business via Business Insider http://bit.ly/1IpULic April 15, 2019 at 05:33PM
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This $300 smart wireless speaker looks so modern that you might not even realize it’s a speaker — and it's got excellent sound quality too http://bit.ly/2UBAwhA Insider Picks writes about products and services to help you navigate when shopping online. Insider Inc. receives a commission from our affiliate partners when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.
Smart speakers are cool, but dozens have been released in the past few years to the point where simply having smart features isn't really enough to sell a speaker any more. Libratone has been making decent speakers and headphones for some time now and recently unveiled the Libratone Zipp 2 (currently $299 on Amazon) and Zipp 2 Mini (currently $249 on Amazon). The speakers boast Google Alexa and Apple AirPlay 2 support, a unique design, and more. I've been testing out the Libratone Zipp 2, which isn't cheap at $299, but worth buying based on my experience. Here's why. DesignIf you've seen Libratone Zipp speakers before, you'll immediately recognize the Libratone Zipp 2. The speaker has a classy-looking fabric covering on the top four-fifths and white plastic on the bottom. It's available in a number of different colors including Black, Green, Gray, and Red. I'm reviewing the black version and find that it looks great; this speaker could look right at home in any environment or on any shelf. On the top of the speaker, there's a small control panel that changes the settings, stores playlists, controls volume, and more. On the back of the speaker, you'll get a power input, power button, and a USB port — which is a nice addition for charging your phone overnight in case you keep the speaker on your nightstand. There's also a handle on the back of the speaker so you can carry it around when the battery is nice and charged up, along with a 3.5 mm jack for plugging into wired audio sources. In general, the Libratone Zipp looks great and is clearly well-made and durable. Read more: The best portable speakers you can buy Specs
Set-up process
Setting up the Libratone Zipp 2 is generally an easy process, especially if you just want to get it to work for AirPlay or Bluetooth use. Just download the Libratone app, plug in the speaker, and follow the on-screen instructions in the app. You may need to download a firmware update for the speaker, but the app will guide you through the process. One of the biggest differences between this version and the original Libratone Zipp is the smart home compatibility. It's pretty easy to set up Alexa to work on the speaker, thankfully — select the speaker in the app, hit the microphone button, and sign in to your Amazon account. Then the speaker should be good to go. Once the speaker is connected to your Wi-Fi network, it should be immediately available as a target for AirPlay 2, meaning you can use it for multiple rooms straight through your iPhone. You can also set the speaker up in Google Home. I wasn't able to do so right out of the box, but after a few attempts and a restart of the iPhone and Wi-Fi router, the speaker finally connected to the Home app. What makes it stand out
Once the speaker is set up, it's super easy to use. You can ask Alexa or Siri to play music, or you can use your iPhone to beam music to this speaker and other AirPlay 2-enabled speakers through apps like Apple Music or Apple Podcasts. Alexa integration is particularly useful because you can use the speaker to other control smart home devices, find out information, and so on. Of course, you might not want Alexa to be listening to you all the time, so you can also turn on and off the microphone straight from the speaker itself. Perhaps the most important thing about a speaker is how it sounds and the Libratone Zipp speaker sounds great. The speaker offers nice deep lows, helping things like kick drums and bass guitars sound smooth and heavy. That's good news for bass fans. The mid-range is pretty well-tuned too. There are nice, warm low mids, with a slightly laid-back high-mid section — which I didn't mind at all. I would say that the mid-range does get a little unclear at times, but it's not bad. The high-end is certainly present and offers plenty of clarity. From the Libratone app, you can also tweak the frequency response — meaning you can get a response that's more along the lines of what you like from a sound profile. The Libratone Zipp 2 is pretty portable too thanks to the fact that it has a battery built right into it. That battery lasts up to 12 hours on a single charge so you can carry the speaker around with you while still enjoying your music. Read more: The best Bluetooth speakers you can buy Cons to consider
Nothing is perfect and the Libratone Zipp 2 does have its downsides — though not many. As mentioned, the mid-range of the speaker isn't perfectly tuned and there were some bugs while setting the speaker up in the Home app, but those are minor annoyances. Perhaps the biggest downside is that it's a little expensive at $299. For comparison, the Sonos One, which also supports Alexa and sounds awesome, comes in at $199. However, it's not portable so it has to remain plugged in to be used. The bottom line
Despite the price issue, the Libratone Zipp 2 is still a great option for those that want something portable and sounds great. In fact, if you're looking for an Alexa-powered portable speaker, I would argue that the Libratone Zipp 2 is the best option to go for thanks to its excellent sound quality and great design. I would absolutely recommend this speaker to anyone who wants a portable speaker, though if you're fine with a wired speaker, then the Sonos One is probably still the way to go. Pros: Good sound quality, great design, portable Cons: Expensive, some software bugs Buy the Libratone Zipp 2 on Amazon for $299See Also:
Business via Business Insider http://bit.ly/1IpULic April 15, 2019 at 05:21PM |
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